Three verses. Seventy-two names.
Shem HaMephorash is the 72-part Name derived from three consecutive verses of Exodus, read in interlocking columns of Hebrew letters — producing 72 triads, each traditionally associated with an angel and a five-day span of the solar year.
In short
Exodus 14:19–21 contains three consecutive verses, each exactly 72 Hebrew letters long. Written one beneath another — the first and third left-to-right, the second right-to-left (boustrophedon) — they form 72 vertical columns of three letters each.
Each column is a name. Appending אֵל (mercy) or יָהּ (severity) to alternating names yields the 72 divine names — traditionally correlated to 72 angels, each governing roughly five days of the solar calendar (a "quinance").
Four ways into the system
Start wherever fits — the derivation itself, the full name list, the historical transmission, or quick definitions.
The Method
How three verses of 72 letters become 72 names — column by column.
Read the derivation →The 72 Names
Full table: order, name, quinance dates, source column, traditional choir.
Browse the table →History
From Sefer Yetzirah through Agrippa and Kircher to Golden Dawn systems.
Trace the lineage →Deep-dive angel references
Seven of the 72 names have their own dedicated reference sites, with sigil work and extended correspondences.